The Stripper Equation

Lennie is not your typical stripper. She graduated from Harvard Law. She hates to party and she prefers t-shirts and flip flops to g-strings and stilettos. Nothing with her quite adds up and that's the way she likes it. Lennie's been on her own...

Check Your Call Log You Missed Your Wake Up Call

The alarm went off waking us up. I felt more rested than I had in a long time. We sat up on the couch and stretched. Mark stood up first. “So do you have anything to eat here?”

“See for yourself.” I motioned towards the cupboards. “Is that all you ever do is eat?” I may not know a lot about Mark but I am already an expert at what he likes to eat.

Mark started searching and I sat back down into the couch wrapping the blanket, that now smelled like Mark, around me. A few minutes later Mark was whipping something up in the kitchen. His phone went off making a noise that sounded like a fairy. “That is Gino. Can you see what the text says?”

I wasn’t familiar with his phone. I was trying to figure out how to get to his texts when I somehow got into his call log. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but I saw Kieracell pop up as a recent call. I know I shouldn’t snoop but as soon as I noticed it, I noticed the time. It was at 12:17 last night. If he had gotten arrested at midnight, why was he calling Kiera 17 minutes later? Why was she his one phone call?

I quickly got out of that screen and opened up Gino’s text. I yelled out to Mark. “He wants to know if I am coming in tonight.” My mind was racing. I couldn’t for the life of me think of any reason why Mark would’ve called Kiera. What’s worse was that he didn’t mention it before. So if there had been a good reason why he called her, him pretending it didn’t happen totally canceled any of that out. Plus he had let me believe that Tanner had been his one phone call.

Mark walked over to me. And gently took his phone out of my hand. “You are coming back tonight right?” His smile was large and infectious.

“I suppose so.” I looked down at my arm after I said it. The bruises had significantly faded. My mind was still stuck on the whole phone thing. I had never seen him with her. He wouldn’t be so stupid as to hand me his phone if he was talking to other girls. He made his way back to the kitchen and returned handing me a plate. We sat there eating in silence.

Eventually it occurred to me that all I saw was Kiera’s contact and a time. In my surprise and haste I can’t honestly say that I know it was an outgoing call. It may have been an incoming call. Kiera may have called his cell after he was taken away. I mean if they came to arrest him in the club at midnight, there would’ve been no way they would have had him back at the station booked and ready to make his one phone call in 17 minutes. I remember how the other night when they came to take away Frank it took them hours just to get our statements. Besides Kiera would have sex with a guy before they even had a real date. If Mark wanted to be with Kiera, there wouldn’t be any way she would have turned him down.

It was 5:30 by the time we finished eating. We had to be at the club by seven and I hadn’t yet showered. “Well I need to get a shower…”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go.” Mark pulled me up from the couch and tossed me over his shoulder. He headed towards the bathroom.

“Put me down. I am not showering with you. You need to go home.” I felt myself being placed back on my own two feet.

Mark walked towards the door. ‘’Fine. I know when I’m not wanted. I’m leaving.” He quickly pecked me on the cheek and he was gone.